The coasts of the Carolinas are an ideal places to be a pirate.  The whole area is dotted with barrier islands where a pirate ship can hide, then slip out, attack a passing merchant vessel and run away again.


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All through history, I’ve read accounts of rulers and wannabe rulers who minted their own coins.  But I rarely stopped to think of the reasons why beyond assuming it was some kind of prestige thing.


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Say Jerry Springer came to you with a time machine (Tardis, DeLorean, whatever) and a mission: to travel back in time and bring him the most dysfunctional people you can find to guest star on his show.

Who would you bring? The Tudors? The Kennedys?


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So what do you do if you find yourself stuck on an “unsinkable” ship going down in icy waters? You drink. And if you’re lucky, it might save your life.


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